Budleigh Past and Present

  Continued from 19 September 1940: To War in a Wimpy: Pilot Officer David Spencer Cox RAF (1921-40)     https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/11/ww2-75-19-september-1940-to-war-in.html       The grave of Harry Goulty in St Peter's Burial Ground, Moor Lane, Budleigh Salterton  Harry Goulty is not listed on Budleigh Salterton’s War Memorial, and had no apparent family connections in the town. However, parish records indicate that he was living at ‘Holly Bank’ at 1 Sherbrook Hill, off West Hill in Budleigh, at the time of his death.   This would account for his last resting place in St Peter’s Burial Ground, Budleigh Salterton, where his grave is number 530, in Block E, Row 12.  Incidentally, the parish records copy at Fairlynch Museum also indicate the date of his death as 24 October 1940, rather than 20 October, which is the date on the headstone and as recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. We do have ...

  Continued from 17 June 1940: A casualty of Operation Ariel -  Aircraftman 1st Class James William Cooper (1920-40)   https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/10/ww2-7512-casualty-of-operation-ariel.html   David Spencer Cox Image credit: Sherborne School Archives  It’s sad to find barely any information about many of the dead whose names appear on Budleigh Salterton's War Memorial, but hopefully a member of the family will recognise a name and help to fill in the gaps.   Some of the names, on the other hand, come with impressively detailed stories. It seems to depend on the school that they attended! It’s thanks to a school record that I discovered David Spencer Cox and his link to Budleigh Salterton. Nothing appears in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records to link this 19-year-old RAF pilot to our town. But in the online archives of Sherborne School in Dorset, I discovered that David Spencer Cox’s parents, Spencer Cox and Gr...

Continued from 29 May 1940 A casualty of Operation Dynamo: LIEUTENANT HUBERT CHARLES COURTNEY TANNER (1913-40),  Royal Navy, HMS Grafton https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/02/ww2-75-29-may-1940-casualty-of.html       Cyril Howlett is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, situated on Plymouth Hoe, Devon Image credit: Partonez/Wikipedia   Cyril Howlett lost his life in the sinking of the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her two escort ships HMS Ardent and HMS Acasta , on 8 June 1940. The event was a disaster which shocked Britain, resulting as it did in the deaths of 1,519 men. It was also a triumph for the Nazis in the propaganda war, the sinking being recorded by a German film crew and played to cinema audiences.         The Old Royal Naval College, on the south bank of the river Thames in Greenwich, London, viewed from the north.  Image credit: Wikipedia Cyril had chosen the Royal Navy as a ca...